Origins
by EvaXephon
Summary: The Galactic Federation has fought a long war against the Space Pirates, and that war may finally be coming to a close. However, the Space Pirates have several surprises in store for the Federation...Later chapters may change the rating.
1. Chapter 1

**Edited by:** Insomniac By Choice  
**Elements borrowed from:** Metroid game series, Quake game series, and _The Best There Is_ Metroid fanfiction

* * *

To one positioned behind the man, the fellow might have appeared to be quietly admiring any number of the abundant poetic sights stretched out among the heavens before him.

The vast expanses of space dotted by immense pinpricks of lights called "stars".

The half-dark glow of a nearby moon, its rims tinged by the many-colored spectacle of a faraway nebula.

The glittering tail of comet, icily circling 'round the solar system with single-minded devotion.

Perhaps, even the terrible, reflective abyss that promised to admire him back if he appreciated it long enough.

However, as the man floated almost gracefully in the zero gravity, watching his poetic scene, his body slowly spun, and eventually, aforementioned observer would have had a very different view of the man. In the process, said observer would have discovered it would have been quite difficult for the man to admire anything, poetic or not; corpses are not known for their appreciation of aesthetics, after all.

He was dead. No, not just dead, but mutilated. His left eye was gone, as well as most of the left half of his face, and his hands were bloody, no doubt from clawing at his face during his last excruciating moments of helplessness and fear. Or maybe the blood on his hands was from attempts - ultimately vain attempts - to keep his intestines and lower organs from spilling out of his belly. Vain, of course, because everything below his waist was completely gone, perhaps off somewhere else, admiring poetic celestial bodies on its own. The man _almost_ appeared normal from the chest up - ignoring his face for the moment - but the area around his torso was an odd mix of scorched armor, burnt skin, and twisted internal organs, suggesting in part the story told in full by the rest of his body.

Enough of that.

A few objects floated around the man. A few near, a plethora floating further out, and if one expands one's scope far enough, there were an almost infinite amount of objects floating around the man in space. But to contract one's view back to the immediate, the objects near to him resembled large metal panels - in fact they were - and were still mostly intact, except for scorched areas around the edges now and again where they had been separated from some noble ship they had once helped compose. To think of the dreams and aspirations this ship must have once had, suddenly dashed into pieces, sadly, now no better than common space debris. A tragedy, really.

As mentioned earlier, although the man was dead, he would not keep still. The same force that had so rudely ejected him from the ship granted him motion now. His lifeless limbs slowly floundered in a peculiar but constant manner, almost as though he was trying to swim his way through space. His momentum soon carried his body away from said observer's location, but it was not long before another corpse drifted by to replace him, not that this one looked any more handsome: a large chunk of his chest was gone, and his head and neck were apparently no longer on amiable terms, though hypothetical observer could not have located the head to ask its opinion.

As it turns out, however, these two dead bodies and the handful of metal panels that had floated through the area thus far were merely humble heralds for the macabre parade of corpses and wreckage that followed. As parades go, this one was somber in addition to macabre. Loud music, marching, and flag waving were all noticeably absent, as was the crowd, save for one observer - and a hypothetical one at that. But, a parade it was, and while the broken vestiges of the fleet of ships floating by looked largely similar to their paneled precursors, the two corpses were actually quite dashing compared to mass graveyard that came after them, all broken, twisted, burned, and disfigured in their own way and more than worthy of a horrific narrative in their own right, though they shall not get it. None too soon, this ghastly procession of remains drifted past, gone and leaving no sign of their passage but for that of unpleasant memory. Alas, the newfound serenity of this scene was not to last.

A ship came out of hyperspace. Two more quickly followed. Inscribed upon each of them was a logo with an acronym below it. "SMC" - the manufacturer of the ship, and below this, their unique names. The first ship bore the optimistic name G.F.S. _Victory_. The equally optimistic names G.F.S. _Conquest_ and _Triumph _marked the others.

The _Victory_ stayed where it was while the engines of the _Conquest_ and _Triumph_ fired up and carried them past the hypothetical onlooker's line of sight, though with significantly more speed than that of the macabre parade, of course. If the hypothetical observer now turned himself 180 degrees to try to follow the ship, he would see the breathtaking sight of hundreds of such ships, also just removed from hyperspace, as well as the destination they all shared.

Planet Yokoi.

Of the three planets in the star system capable of sustaining life, Yokoi was the youngest and the one with the highest geothermal activity. Except for the ice-capped poles at both hemispheres, Yokoi was also quite hot. This, as well as the extremely wet conditions and nutrients provided by frequent volcanic eruptions, enabled the levels of vegetation across most of the planet to be extremely dense. Interestingly, however, the planet was so hot that, despite the large amount of water present, at any given time, most of it was in the form of water vapor, or precipitation, meaning that over sixty percent of its surface was above sea level. Four huge continents sprawled over most of the planet, while six interconnected "oceans" covered the rest of the planet, along with one landlocked sea in the middle of the largest continent.

"...And that's where we're going to land, boys." Sergeant Jeffrey said, pointing at a small dot on the electronic map with a metallic finger. The squad of powered-suit troopers the Sergeant was speaking to were already strapped into their transport ship, but it was still docked in one of the _Conquest's_ many hangars, awaiting launch. The rest of the platoon was in another ship, likely receiving the same review. "Our orders are to take and hold the island in the middle of that sea until reinforcements come from Wetyin and relieve us. Pretty simple, but since all of you dumbasses were stupid enough to volunteer for the Mechanized Infantry in the first place, I'm guessing at least one of you has a dumb question to ask."

"'...Hey Sarge?" Ventured a trooper with the words _PVT Martin_ written across his powered suit.

Sergeant Jeffrey sighed.

"Yes, Martin?"

"...What the hell's a 'Wetyin'?" PVT Martin asked.

The transport ship was suddenly filled with groans. Private Martin was oblivious.

"...Sarloft, Swivven, Koos, and Wetyin are the names of the four continents." A trooper beside Private Martin explained. _PVT Tull_ was written on his suit. "The island is closest to Wetyin, so that's where the sit-down boys are going to come from after we go in and secure it."

"...Hell, Sarge, you was right about the stupid questions." Another trooper said, this one on the other side of the transport. "Martin's a -"

"He's still a smarter than you, Red." This trooper had _PVT Gonzales_ on his suit. "You're lucky Martin asked that question before you could."

"Hey, Gonzales, feel free to just come on over here and _blow me_." Red yelled back.

"...If you worthless fools don't shut up," The sergeant said, angry now rather than agitated, "I'll have you re-assigned to spice mining duty on an asteroid."

"Aw, Sarge, you know you love us," Gonzales cooed, "You don't have to act like a tight ass around us."

"I'm the only one of you cock-loving queens whose asshole is still fresh enough to _be_ tight. Try to keep your minds off all the peckers nearby, and listen up." Sergeant Jeffrey said. "Word just came in that things've changed. Everybody, watch your visor, the Lieutenant's about to give us all the update."

The heads-up displays of all of the troopers in the squad were suddenly half-filled by the warmly impassive face of their commanding lieutenant, Abbas Alano. None of his men knew how old he was; they'd all seen him out of his suit before, and noticed the gray peppering his hair, but he was still fit, and he might have been anywhere from his late twenties to early forties. A thin scar running from his hairline to his chin through his still-working right eye proved he'd been in service to the Galactic Federation for more than his share, but just how many battles he'd been in or how he'd gotten that distinctive scar, they didn't know. It didn't really matter, though - the troops felt that as long as he was around, everything would be okay.

"Gentlemen." He began, speaking softly, but radiating confidence. "There's good news in the war against the Space Pirates. A lone bounty hunter battled through enemy lines and killed the Space Pirates' Mother Brain on Zebes. Doing so triggered the dead-man's switch, and the Zebes base was completely annihilated."

Cheers and cries of joy rung out among all the troopers. Abbas let the cheers continue until they died out on their own, but didn't join them.

"...Now, the bad news: all of that talk you heard about Yokoi's defenses being relatively new and incomplete turns out to have been nonsense. The orbital defenses are already in place, and it's obvious our intel on their ground defenses is completely unreliable as well. The scout ships that were supposed to clear this up were shot down almost as soon as they jumped out of hyperspace, meaning we're flying blind until they figure something else out. If you're wondering why we aren't being shot at right now - and you _should_ be - it's probably because now we've got too many ships for them to take down, and they know as soon as they start firing, we'll get a lock on their positions and fire back. Pirates may be ugly, vile bastards, but they aren't stupid. We have a list of possible targets, but, thanks to the Federation ignoring this planet for so long and all of the canopy vegetation, we can't tell what's a pirate base, what's a native temple, and what's a pirate base built _into_ a native temple. At some point, they'll start firing at us, so instead of just going to help clear out a landing zone for the mobile command center, we also have to make sure any orbital defenses in our area are out of commission. Then, the reinforcements should be able to come. Where we're at may be their central base, or it may just be an abandoned temple; we'll find out when we get there."

He smiled briefly, and the troopers' feelings of despair subsided slightly. "But, don't forget about the good news. Zebes' destruction makes the bases on this planet the last remaining Space Pirate presence of any consequence in the galaxy. We just have to do our part in one battle, and the war is over for good. ...Bet you didn't think becoming a hero would be _this _easy, huh?"

He laughed, and the troopers all laughed, too. Then, his picture disappeared, and the laughter slowly subsided and the troopers were left merely sitting in their transports quietly.

The transports began lifting off a short time later, heading for the planet below while the main ships hung back at a safer distance. As they entered the atmosphere, all of the ships began to shake, and despite the restraints, the troopers found themselves being rattled around in their seats.

"Hell of a ride, huh?" Private Martin said to the person on his side, an empty space between them. The other person had his arms crossed and head down, and didn't respond. He probably couldn't hear anything. Martin looked forward. "Hey Sarge!" He called out to the person sitting across from him.

"What is it, Martin?" Sergeant Jeffrey asked.

"Who's the new guy?"

"The MI has been short on men for a while. If you'd been _paying attention_ for the past couple of months, you'd know the Federation has been hiring a bounty hunters to help fill out the ranks."

"...A bounty hunter!" Martin exclaimed. "Christ, a bounty hunter is part of _our_ squad?"

"Don't spit it out like that!" The Sergeant warned sternly. The other troopers turned their heads to look at the bounty hunter now, too. They knew what Martin was thinking, but they had tact enough not to say it. Martin, however, didn't.

"…Guy like that could get us all killed, that's all I'm saying."

Suddenly, the ship rocked with incredible force. If it weren't for the restraints keeping them down, the troopers probably would have been tossed from their seats.

"We're hit!" The pilot announced out over the intercom. "Missiles are locking on to us!"

In the moments that followed, the troopers aboard the dropship could only feel the sensation of movement, and fear an impending doom. If their vantage point had been outside the ship instead of inside of it, they would have seen their ship - with a tail of grey smoke trailing behind it - weaving a winding path through space, zigzagging and twisting around in an attempt to shake off its pursuers: two missiles. After a short but tense chase, the pilot managed to lose one of the missiles. Unfortunately, the remaining missile would not be so easy to shake off.

The missile ate up the distance between itself and the ship quickly. The troopers aboard the dropship felt the ship rock even harder than it had before, heard an enormously loud sound as if the entire universe was collapsing around them, and then —

* * *

Xeph's heartbeat was pounding hard in his ears. He couldn't believe that his own heartbeat could be so loud, or that he could be able to hear it so clearly. 

He slowly opened his eyes. It looked like the world was turned sideways. He realized that this was because he was lying on his side. He could tell that he was lying on the floor of the seating area of the dropship. However, the dropship was missing a very vital component – one of its walls. The lack of a wall provided him with a window, and out of this window, he saw a blue sky, a jungle canopy beneath it, and trees beneath that. They must have made it to Yokoi – although Xeph would be surprised if anyone else was in one piece. He would be surprised if _he_ was in one piece.

A pillar of smoke was rising into the sky, and he could hear a machine gun firing - a battle was already underway. Xeph soon saw what was causing the machine gun sound: a member of the Galactic Federation Military's Mechanized Infantry. He caught sight of something else - a man in a suit of Galactic Federation armor dragging another man - injured, or perhaps dead - across the ground. Another man went running across his field of vision, holding an assault rifle.

Xeph slowly began to push himself up off of the ground - but no sooner than he had righted himself, an explosion suddenly went off a short distance away from him. The force of it threw him against the seats of the dropship, and he blacked out.

* * *

He was awake again. Still in the same spot, body positioned so that he was looking up at the sky. His breath caught. His lungs refused to work. Was this dying? He saw a black shape suddenly zip across the sky: a Galactic Federation fighter aircraft. He saw more shapes moving across his vision: a trooper running, another who ran, stopped for a moment to fire, and then continued on, another fighter in the sky, very high up, and suddenly another, flying dangerously close to the jungle canopy. 

Suddenly, a man was in front of him. The man grabbed Xeph, and started shaking him. He began shouting at Xeph, but although his panicked face was inches away from Xeph, and he appeared to be shouting very loudly, Xeph could barely hear him, and his voice sounded as if it was coming from far away. "Get up! Get your ass up before-"

The man's sentence was interrupted by his own death cry as a hail of bullets ripped through his body, splattering Xeph with his blood. The man fell over, dead. Xeph lost consciousness a moment later.

* * *

Awake again. Fighters still flying overhead. Explosions and gunfire still sounding all around him. Xeph reached out a hand, and felt something. He grabbed it, and used it as leveraged to lift himself off the ground. Only after he'd risen up a bit did he notice that what he'd grabbed was the leg of the man who had sacrificed his life trying to get him to move. Xeph quickly let go of the leg, and raised himself without using anything as leverage. 

He turned his eyes back to the horizon that he'd seen during his brief bouts of consciousness. The mech from before was gone. Its spot was now occupied by a towering spider-like being - it was crimson and black in color, and moved about on four legs like an insect. Four tentacle-like limbs came out from under its belly to whip at what Xeph assumed were any troopers foolish enough to attempt to take it on. It had machine guns mounted to its 'head', and as it turned to fire at an unlucky target, two missiles hit it from its blind side. It shuddered at the blast of the first one, but the second one seemed to barely affect it at all. It turned, and began a walk towards whoever had fired upon it, firing its machine guns as it went. Xeph had no clue whether or not the gargantuan beast was an actual biological being, or merely a mechanical construct that looked and moved like a living creature. He knew that the Space Pirates were experimenting with biomechanical technology, so the giant being could be a freak of nature born in one of their laboratories.

He heard a voice over his suit's radio. "This is Sergeant Miller. I'm taking Chimera Squad in to clear out the facility." Xeph was impressed that Miller was still sticking to the mission. At a time like this, it would be almost impossible for a person to go out and blaze his guns. Yet, Xeph was now going to be forced to do the same. To earn his pay, and to survive, he'd had to get moving.


	2. Chapter 2

Xeph would feel a lot more secure if he had a weapon. He didn't feel his assault rifle strapped to his back, and didn't see it nearby - a trooper in dire need of a weapon must have taken it. Xeph's hand reached down and patted his gun holster to check to see if it still contented his blaster - yes, it did. He took it out, pointed it skyward, and pulled the trigger - it still worked. The flashlight on it worked, too. He held down the trigger, and the gun began to hum. He released the trigger, and a slow-moving bright blue ball left the barrel of the blaster to create a scorch mark on a nearby tree. The secondary function – a slow-moving but highly damaging energy blast – worked, as well. His blaster wasn't very powerful at all, but it was far better than nothing.

"HQ! HQ! Come in, HQ! This is Minotaur Squad!"

The voice had come from Xeph's right, around the side of the wrecked dropship. He walked around it, and saw a man taking cover behind what appeared to be a large blast shield that had become lodged in the ground. He kneeling down before a small laptop computer, and it seemed to be the addressee of his pleas.

Each Galactic Federation trooper was given his own personal armor. The armor was no different in appearance from any other trooper's suit, but each trooper's suit of armor was programmed with the name and rank of the trooper it belonged to. All modern GF suits had the ability to read this data in other suits and display it on a screen inside of the trooper's helmet, allowing for the easy identification of any trooper.

Xeph was not clad in Galactic Federation armor, but his own personal armor did possess the same feature that GF suits did. However, unlike the GF troopers, Xeph did not wear a helmet. Although most bounty hunters preferred to wear headgear with screens and readouts that displayed information, Xeph found such helmets to be smothering, and only wore one when environmental circumstances called for it. He had opted instead for an ocular implant that projected all the information a helmet could directly onto his eye. This is why, when Xeph looked directly at the man speaking to his laptop, the words "SGT Morris, Minotaur Squad" appeared in the corner of his vision.

Xeph walked over to Morris. As he did, Morris looked up, saw Xeph, and stood up. "Oh, shit! You're not dead!" Was his salutation. For a moment, Xeph wondered if Morris was merely surprised, or disappointed. "Rhodes wanted to bury you! Luckily for you, Lieutenant Abbas was in a hurry to move out, so they skipped your burial. Abbas left orders that everyone's supposed to hook up with their squad ASAP. Just go through those doors - you'll run into them eventually."

Morris gestured to Xeph's right. Xeph turned, and with saw something that he had surprisingly not yet noticed.

About fifty feet away stood an Ebirt Temple.

---

Nothing remains of the vanished race of Ebirt that once lived on Yokoi, save for their voluminous edifices. Though the species left no traces of advanced technology, they somehow built huge pyramid-shaped temples of stone amid the endless jungle. It was inside of these stone ziggurats that the Space Pirates had begun to establish their early bases.

The Space Pirates had transformed the dank interiors of the Ebirt temples into military outposts that varied in purpose. Some of the colossal structures were now cavernous hangar bays that held several squadrons' worth of Space Pirate starfighters. Some were barracks that housed Space Pirate warriors. Others were glorified ceremonial chambers for Space Pirate dignitaries.

---

"HQ, do you read? This is Minotaur Squad! Please respond!"

Morris continued his attempts to contact headquarters without much success. Xeph decided to make his way to the temple. However, upon starting his approach by taking a step forward, he discovered something - a sharp pain in his side. It took him completely by surprise, as he hadn't felt it before. He had either finally moved enough to upset an injury sustained in the crash, or his mind had just now gotten over the numb feeling of being in a traumatic situation enough to notice pain once more. Whatever the reason was, Xeph really didn't care. What mattered to him the most right now was finding a medic.

---

A combat medic is a trained soldier who is responsible for providing first aid and frontline trauma care on the battlefield. Combat medics are often unofficially known simply as 'medics'. In the Galactic Federation army, medics wear a specific insignia on several places on their armor - a prominent red cross on a white background. Combat medics usually carry at least one sidearm, frequently a rifle, carbine, or submachine gun.

---

Xeph turned his head left and right, scanning the area. He saw a man hunched over another who was lying down. A tiny icon appeared over the man's head in Xeph's vision - a small red square with a white cross emblazoned on it. After keeping his eyes focused on the man for a few more seconds, a few words popped up - "MEDIC Anderson, Minotaur Squad".

Sucking his gut in to ease the pain in his side, Xeph walked over to Anderson, who appeared to just now be finishing up on the wounded man who lay before him. "There...you're stabilized for the moment." Anderson said to him. Anderson looked up at his next patient. "...Xeph, right?" He asked. When he received no objection, he introduced himself. "My name's Anderson." Despite the fact that it was very easy to obtain a trooper's name, it was still considered polite to introduce oneself. Anderson turned his eyes down to the wound Xeph was clutching. "Here, lemme heal ya." Anderson reached around his back, grabbed a device that was strapped to his belt, and held it out to Xeph. Xeph was pleased to see it - a med pack.

---

Med packs are devices that can provide immediate medical aid to a sick or injured person. Med packs are about as big as one's hand, but contain a wide variety of medication such as serums, antidotes, medicine, ointment, disinfectant, styptic, and anesthetic. Med packs can also administer a gelatinous substance that, when exposed to oxygen, solidifies into a gauze-like form that can be used as a splint or bandage. Med packs can also sew up wounds, although the procedure requires an extremely steady hand, making self-application a near impossibility.

Galactic Federation armor stores more data than just a trooper's name and rank. Galactic Federation armor is capable of storing a trooper's physical data and information related to their bodily health. The information can be read by a medic, and also by med packs.

Once a med pack has been activated, it reads the physical data of the nearest trooper, and once its sensors detect it to be within range of its patient's wound, it administers a shot or other medical technique.

Med packs are revolutionary devices that can automatically perform life-saving medical techniques, and a non-doctor or lay person can be trained to use one with minimal equipment. However, it should be noted that the med pack does not make medics obsolete - most of the time, the most a med pack can do is to provide temporary aid until proper medical treatment can be administered by a professional. In a tight combat situation, the ability to quickly heal a wound, even if only temporarily, is very useful, but a medic will always be able to provide better treatment. Combat medics always have been and always will be the most valuable commodity on a battlefield.

---

"There. Go get 'em." Anderson said, after administering a med pack to Xeph's wound. Xeph patted the spot on his torso that had stung with pain a moment before, but now felt fine. "If you get hurt, find a medic! They'll heal you up!" Anderson said, as he knelt down before his injured comrade to continuing mending his wounds.

Now that he was patched up, Xeph was ready to go earn his pay. To his right, there was a catwalk that led over a ditch. Beyond that ditch was the entrance to the Ebirt Temple. Xeph ran across the catwalk, and approached the temple. The entrance was a large mechanical sliding door that the Pirates had built into the original entrance of the temple - a stark contrast to the stone walls that surrounded the high-tech door. Beside it was a GF trooper, kneeling as he loaded his rifle. Words appeared next to him - "PVT Webb, Chimera Squad". When Xeph approached, Webb stood up, gestured towards the temple, shouted enthusiastically, "Come on!" and ran towards the door. As he approached the door, it automatically sensed his approach, and slid open quickly, allowing him in. Xeph followed behind him.

The inside of the temple was dark. It appeared that most of the lights had ceased to function. Nearby sparking wires hinted that more than a few electrical circuits had been damaged in the battles that had recently taken place in these halls. Evidence of battles was everywhere - bullet holes and blood littered the walls, and empty bullet shells littered the ground. Xeph had to run around a dead GF trooper and avoid wetting his boots in the puddle of blood that surrounded him.

Through another sliding door was when things started to heat up. As Webb approached a corner, a Space Pirate leapt out from behind it. Webb wasted no time in shouting a derogatory name at his adversary, and then emptying a few rounds of bullets into its chest. Another door down the hall slid open, revealing two Space Pirates standing over a dead trooper. They immediately began firing on Xeph and Webb. Xeph found a couple of boxes to take cover behind, the trooper ducked behind a pillar. They periodically popped out from behind their cover to fire a few shots at their enemies, and after a short, intense battle, the Space Pirates were dead.

Webb gave an exhilarated whoop, obviously pleased with their victory - but they were nowhere near done. Gunfire coming from nearby told them that there was someone who needed their help, and they ran down the hall, up a short flight of stairs, and across a catwalk to join the fight. As they did, Xeph heard a voice speak over his suit's radio - "Viper Squad, this is HQ! Mantis Squad is MIA, no responses. Fall back to Rally Point Alpha-904!"

A lone GF trooper was ducking behind a crate, taking fire from three Space Pirates at once. Once Xeph and Webb joined the fray, the playing field was evened, but the battle would still be harsh.

As Xeph stepped back to take cover behind a pillar, the back of his foot kicked something metallic. He looked down to see what it was - his assault rifle! It was next to the corpse of an unfortunate trooper. More than likely, this man was the one who had taken his gun from him when Xeph was thought to be dead.

Xeph took up the rifle and began firing on the Space Pirates. The rifle had a fast rate of fire, decent range, and a scope, too. Xeph was best with assault rifles, and with one in his hands, the battle was tipped to his side's favor.

Once the Space Pirates had been dispatched, Webb spoke to Xeph. "We're clear! We'll stay here to secure the area. Why don't you go find your squad?"

Xeph nodded and ran ahead. He rounded a corner, then another, and then heard voices and gunfire coming from nearby. It was further down the hall, and through a door. The voices were human, and in agony. Xeph ran through the door, and in front of him, saw a Space Pirate dragging a trooper by his leg. The trooper was firing his gun wildly, but his shots were hitting only the ceiling. By the time Xeph had dashed into the room and raised his rifle, however, it was too late - the Pirate had dragged the man through a door, and most likely to his doom.

Xeph ran across the room, and down a short flight of stairs. He was about to keep on running, but something caught his eye. To his left, there was a large piece of smoking machinery. At first, it had seemed unremarkable, but at second glance, Xeph noticed that the floor panels beneath it were turned up, as if it had fallen from a long ways up. He looked up, and saw a hole in the ceiling, providing a view of the sky above. He looked back at the machine. It was obviously of GF design, and was the size and shape of a coffin, with an engine and wings on the back. It was opened, revealing a place for a person to lie down inside. Xeph realized that it was a vessel that could deploy a single person into enemy territory. It was most likely used by the GF to send in bounty hunters or mercenaries, rather than single troopers. He wondered where the inhabitant of this vessel was. There was no dead body nearby, so he'd most likely survived his rough landing and gotten out. There were more important things to worry about, so Xeph forgot about the strange vessel and continued on his way.

Xeph made his way to the door that the trooper had been dragged through. Behind it, he found a dead GF trooper surrounded by a lot of blood, and dropped his hopes for saving the man.

When he walked forward, a Space Pirate suddenly dropped down from above. Xeph immediately began firing upon the Pirate as he walked backwards to put some space between himself an enemy known for expertise at melee combat. His hail of fire tore the Pirate apart, and it was no longer a threat.

This area had a number of pillars significantly higher than the areas before it, and Xeph quickly deduced what his enemy would use for cover in this room. As he walked forward, he heard a snarl, and saw two shadowy forms moving behind some pillars, and backed up and hid half his body behind a corner to prepare for battle.

Bullets and energy blasts went flying his way, and Xeph shot back, then hid behind the corner. When he heard his enemy stop firing, he popped back around the corner and fired again, then slipped behind the corner again.

This process managed to take down one Space Pirate, but the remaining one was too smart. Xeph leapt out from behind the corner, taking cover behind a pillar this time. He slipped from pillar to pillar, gaining ground on his enemy as he did. Eventually, when he was close enough, he jumped out and fired, and took his enemy by surprise. The Space Pirate could not survive fire from such a close range. This room was now clear.

Xeph walked down some stairs and approached a door. It opened, revealing a horrifying sight behind it. A Space Pirate knocked a trooper down and pinned him with its body, snarling and drawing back its arm for an attack. Xeph feared that the outcome of this scene was going to mirror the last one - but to his surprise, the Space Pirate suddenly went flying into the air, hit a wall, slid down it, and slumped down lifelessly. The GF trooper, holding a smoking shotgun in his hands, rolled to the side, and then rose to his feet. Words appeared beside him - "PFC Kovitch, Chimera Squad". "Not a very good place to let your guard down, is it?" He said wryly to Xeph. "...C'mon, let's see if we can't find my squad up ahead."

Xeph and Kovitch ran ahead. Through a door, they found a long corridor, the left wall of which was composed of a very long section of pipes. For a split second, Xeph caught sight of a Space Pirate slipping around a corner for cover at the far end of the hallway. Kovitch ducked down behind a crate for cover, and Xeph assumed that it would be his job to root out the Pirate.

Xeph began running down the corridor, but no sooner than he'd made it a couple feet, the pipes to his left sudden burst open, blasting him in the face with steam. When he could see clearly again, he saw a Space Pirate torso leaning through the opening, a claw extended for him. Xeph leapt back and fired at the Pirate, and it growled and dashed out of his view.

Xeph anticipated that the Pirate was most likely heading back around the corner to run down the hallway and face him directly, so he backed up. Just as he'd expected, the Pirate leapt out from behind the corner and came barreling down the hallway. Xeph and Kovitch began firing at it. It advanced on them with incredible speed, and then made a tremendous leap forward, straight towards Xeph. His bullets didn't stop it, and it slammed right into him.

The Space Pirate's body pinned Xeph against a wall. He shoved it off and jumped up, his gun pointed at the Pirate - but it wasn't moving any more. Apparently, it had died in midair during its leap, thanks to the bullets of Xeph and Kovitch.

The two of them continued down the corridor, turned the corner, and walked past the pipes the Space Pirate had been hiding behind. There was another sliding door to go through, but before Xeph entered it, he noticed another peculiar sight - what looked like some kind of biological organ coming out of a wall. There were a few pipes and wires running through it, and there was even a screen attached to it, although it displayed letters that were in the Space Pirate language, one Xeph couldn't read. The 'organ' was fleshy and meaty, red in color, and even had a few veins running across it. Periodically, it would beat, like a heart. Xeph shook his head at the grotesque sight. He wondered exactly how far the Space Pirates' biological experiments were going.

He turned around, and approached the sliding door. The moment it slid open, he saw a Space Pirate running to the left - and then suddenly flying to the right as a result of a direct shotgun blast. Xeph readied his weapon for a fight, but that unfortunate Pirate appeared to be the last one to die in a battle that had just taken place here. There was a GF trooper to the left holding a shotgun, and another tooper up some stairs with an assault rifle. Kovitch took up position here, too, and Xeph saw a tough-looking man labeled "SGT Miller, Chimera Squad". This was definitely Chimera Squad's rally point.

One of the men here, however - "PVT Chase" - was sitting on the floor, his legs lying straight out in front of him, stiff and unmoving. "PFC Hillstrom" dashed to his side. "My legs...I can't move 'em!" Chase pleaed.

Sergeant Miller began speaking into the microphone on his wrist. "HQ, I have a man down, and require a medic. ...HQ, come in! ...Damn Pirates must be jamming our signal. Kovitch, what took you so long to get back?"

"Sorry, Sarge, I had a...run in with a Pirate." Kovitch said, under-exaggerating his encounter for brevity's sake. "I met this bounty hunter - I think he's working with Minotaur Squad."

"...You with Minotaur Squad?" Miller asked Xeph. Xeph nodded. "Hightail it back to the landing site, grab your medic, and bring him here."

Bounty hunters moonlighting as mercenaries or GF troopers were expected to accept orders from any GF lieutenant or sergeant, regardless of whether or not the bounty hunter was a part of that commander's squad, so these were orders that Xeph would have to follow.

"We're not going to be able to spare any men to go back with you." Miller said. "If you want, you can take that." He gestured towards a small crate of GF equipment. Xeph leaned over to see what Miller had pointed at.

A nail gun.

---

The nail gun is a machine gun with a high rate of fire employing several rotating barrels. However, instead of bullets, the nail gun fires small fin-stabilized metal darts referred to as 'nails'. Upon impact with a surface, whether that surface is metal or flesh, the nails shatter apart into sharp fragments that pierce most types of armor, as well as most types of Space Pirate carapaces.

---

The nail-gun would come in handy, especially if Xeph wasn't going to receive back-up, so he picked it up and stuck a few clips of its unique ammo onto his belt.

Xeph left Chimera Squad's rally point, and re-entered the area with the long corridor of pipes, and began to walk past the pipes. As he did, he heard a voice over his suit's radio. "We were dropped in the wrong freakin' zone! There are Space Pirates everywhere! Get me outta here!"

"Hold tight, trooper!" A voice responded. "We have your location, and help is on the way. He's going to get you outta there, and then take you to an injured man who needs your help." It was difficult to hear voices very clearly over the radio, but the first voice sounded like that of Anderson, the medic, and the second voice sounded like Miller's.

Suddenly, Xeph heard a loud, explosive noise behind him. The point in the pipes where a Space Pirate had ambushed him had just been blown open - had the pipes' structural integrity merely reached a critical point, or...

Xeph heard snarling. That blast had come from a Space Pirate. Xeph quickly took cover, and waited for the Pirate to round the corner - when it did, Xeph activated his nail gun, sending a hail of needles into the Space Pirate's body. It did not survive very much longer.

Xeph looked around the corner, and saw two Space Pirates down the corridor. He raised the nail gun and sprayed a flurry of nails down the corridor. When he heard two Space Pirate death screams, and the enemy fire stopped, he came out from cover and began walking down the corridor again. Then, two more Space Pirates jumped out - they'd been waiting until Xeph had come closer. However, their plan proved to be their demise - the nail gun was even more lethal at close range, and Xeph wasn't standing close enough to them to be hurt by the nails' shrapnel.

Once those two Space Pirates were dead, Xeph looked down at the nail gun with satisfaction. He'd killed five pirates, and only used up a third of his ammo so far. This gun would do nicely.

Xeph passed by the room where he'd met Kovitch, and then entered the room with many pillars. In this room, there was a trooper standing in front of one of the sliding doors. As Xeph approached him, he raised a hand. "...Hey!" He called out.

Suddenly, the door behind the trooper opened, revealing a Space Pirate. The Pirate was wearing a large blade that started at his elbow and went far past his hand. The Pirate drew back his arm and thrust it through the torso of the trooper, impaling him instantly. The Pirate tossed the trooper's now lifeless body to the side, and then turned to Xeph.

Xeph felt no camaraderie towards GF troopers, but it was unpleasant to watch that trooper be killed from behind in such a fashion. He raised his nail gun, intent on avenging the poor trooper's death, and fired.

To Xeph's surprise, the Space Pirate seemed almost unaffected by the nails that were shredding into his body. He snarled and leapt at Xeph, and in turn Xeph jumped away, attempting to keep his nail gun's barrels aimed at the Pirate. The Pirate continued to attempt to attack Xeph, swiping its blade weapon at him, but Xeph managed to narrowly avoid its swings. Just when it seemed that the Pirate was about to win, it finally fell. Xeph checked the screen on the weapon that displayed how much ammo was left in it - he'd spent a third of it fighting that beast. It looked like the strength of Space Pirates varied more than he thought.

Xeph walked through the door that the tough Pirate had come through. He saw two dead GF troopers lying on the ground, their blood splattered on the floor and nearby walls.

Xeph heard the battle cry of a Space Pirate from nearby, and then saw one run out from behind a corner. He turned his nail gun on the Pirate, and took him down.

His suit's radio came to life again. "We're locked on! Do not attempt to evac us!"

"Bluetail Squad, you have to bank your dropship to the left! Bank left, dammit!"

"We copy. See if you can-" The radio sputtered out static, and then went dead. Xeph guessed the fate of the unfortunate Bluetail Squad.

Xeph went through the next door, entering the area with the strange coffin-shaped vessel. Directly across the room from him was a Space Pirate - Xeph opened fire on him. He heard more fire, but it wasn't from his weapon or the Space Pirate's weapon. It was the sound of an assault rifle firing. The Space Pirate fell to the side, as if he had been shot from the side instead of from the front. Xeph deduced that a GF trooper was somewhere off to the side.

Two more Space Pirates piled into the room, and Xeph and the unseen GF trooper mowed them down easily. The ammunition for Xeph's nail gun ran out in the process, but this was understandable. He turned to the side to see the trooper that had assisted him in killing the Space Pirates with such skill.

It was Anderson, the medic!

"An injured man needs my help, right? Lead the way."

Xeph nodded, and turned around to backtrack. He returned to the room that he'd found the two dead troopers in. Suddenly, a metal panel on the floor popped open, and a Space Pirate leapt out from under the floor.

Xeph and Anderson raised their assault rifles and fired. Normally the Pirate would probably have posed a threat, but with dual rifles firing on it, it went down hard, and fell back into the hole from whence it came.

"I thought Pirates were supposed to be tough!" Anderson joked. As they passed by the two dead troopers, Anderson shook his head and sighed. "So many lives wasted..."

In the next room, another Space Pirate attempted to ambush them, but Xeph and Anderson were expecting such attacks, and short work was made of the Pirate.

Xeph's radio came to life again. "Orbital artillery has just finished targeting! Bombardment to commence in three...! Two...! One...!"

Moments later, Xeph heard several loud explosions and felt an equal number of very large rumbles.

The Space Pirate ambushes continued, although few provided much of a challenge for Xeph and the surprisingly skilled Anderson.

It wasn't long before Xeph and Anderson reached Chimera Team's rally point. The atmosphere had changed since the last time Xeph had been in this room - the troopers were more relaxed, and were talking amongst themselves.

"I heard the dropship the Minotaurs were on took a direct hit. They're lucky most of them survived."

"Yeah, we lost a lot of dropships during the initial landing. The Space Pirate air defense cannons ripped us apart."

"But, now it's our turn, right? It's time to kick some Space Pirate ass!"

"Yeah!"

Xeph and Anderson made their way over to the injured man.

"What's wrong?"

"My legs...they're numb!"

"Don't worry, you'll be fine." Anderson coaxed. "Here..." He leaned from side to side, observing the man's injuries, took out a med pack, and administered the proper medical care. "Gave 'im a med pack, and sedated 'im. He'll be okay."

"Thanks, 'hunter." Miller said to Xeph. "You're free to go now. Take that door, and it'll get you to your squad."

Xeph nodded, and went through the door that Miller had indicated. The room beyond it was empty - it was just an airlock. That meant that going through the next door would lead him out of the temple. Xeph waited for the door behind him to close, then walked forward towards the exit.

When the door slid open, Xeph saw a GF trooper standing directly ahead of him. Approaching him from two sides were Space Pirates.

The GF trooper was holding a shotgun. With two quick shots, he blew away both Space Pirates. After this impressive task, he began to nonchalantly approach Xeph. However, from his blind side, another Space Pirate that had been in hiding was approaching him. Without turning his head to look, the trooper pointed his shotgun at the Pirate, fired a perfectly aimed blast into its chest, and then began speaking to Xeph as if nothing had happened. The words beside him read "CPL Cortez, Minotaur Squad".

"Ah, so you did survive!" He laughed. "I won the bet with Rhodes. We were not properly introduced - I am Alejandro Cortez, Minotaur Squad sharpshooter. Lieutenant Abbas stationed me here to guard the flank. But, you are to proceed that way, and rendezvous with the rest of our squad." He pointed at a large door to the left. Xeph nodded, and approached the door - it was another airlock. He made sure his assault rifle was loaded, and entered the airlock.


End file.
